Wire-cutting pliers



' Dec. 2, 1947. c, SWARTZ 2,431,970

WI RE-CUTTING PLIERS Filed March 26, 1945 Inventm Patented Dec. 2, 1947UNITED STATES PATENT OF'FI-(IE WIRE-CUTTING PLIERS Claude Swartz, WestChicago, Ill.

Application March 2.6, 1945, Serial No. 584,980

1 Claim.

This invention relates to pliers, and has particular reference toimproved pliers of the type designed to be used by electricians forcutting and completely severing wires.

Heretofore, the jaws of wire-cutting pliers have been provided withstraight coacting cutting edges that afford initial contact with thewire at only two points adjacent the side of the wire nearest the userof the pliers. As a result of this, a rather inefficient cutting actionwas had and the cutting edges acted to force the wire from between thejaws. Successful use of such prior pliers accordingly necessitatedapplication of considerabe power by the use of one hand to effect thecutting action and the use of considerable force by the use of the otherhand to prevent the wire from being forced from between the cuttingedges.

An important object of the present invention, therefore, is to providewire-cutting pliers having cutting edges so formed as to overcome thecommon objections mentioned above. I attain this object by providing thecoacting cutting edges of uniformly undulated form and with theundulations of the cutting edges interfitting so that said edges contactthroughout their length when the jaws of the pliers are fully closed.The result of this construction is that a three-point contact of thecutting edges with the wire is had when the jaws of the pliers areseparated and the wire is engaged therebetween. Also, two points ofcontact are afforded by one cutting edge in a manner to retain the wirein place between the cutting edges. As a result, cutting of the wire maybe efiected without grasping and holding the wire between the cuttingedges and by the application of a minimum amount of power for cuttingthrough the wire. 7

The present invention consists in the novel form, combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in theaccompanying drawing and claimed.

In the drawing, wherein like reference characters indicate correspondingparts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevational View of wire-cutting pliers constructedin accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the pliers shown inFigure 1, but with the jaws of the pliers separated and a wirepositioned between the cutting dges thereof preparatory to beingsevered.

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section through the jaws of th pliers,taken on line 3-4 of Figure'l.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the present pliers embody jaws Illand H pivotally connected by means of a pivot pin l2 in the usual way,said jaws having crossed handles I3 and I4 extending upon the oppositeside of the pivot pin 12 from the jaws l0. and H, to permit manualoperation of the jaws.

The facing edges or sides of the jaws Ill and II are cut away orrecessed from one side, as indicated at [5 in Figure 3, therebyproviding the jaws with relatively thin inner blade portions I6. Inaccordance with the present invention, the abutting cutting edges l! andI8 of these blades are of uniformly undulated form and arranged so thattheir undulations interfit when the jaws are completely closed and thecutting edges then contact each other throughout their length, as shownin Figur 1. This should not be confused with cutters of the shear typein which the cutting blades move past each other. The result of thisformation and arrangement is that when the jaws l0 and II are separatedand a wire [9 is placed therebetween, as shown in Figure 2, the wirewill seat in an undulation of the cutting edge of one blade so as toeffectively offset tendency of the wire to. become wedged out frombetween the jaws when the latter are forced together. In addition, thecutting edges contact the wire at three points, as indicated at a, b and0, so that severance of the wire may be effected by the application of aminimum amount of power in forcing th jaws together. The user need notemploy a hand to hold the wire between the jaws, and the pliers may beoperated entirely by one hand so that the user has his other hand freefor any other purpose desired. The utility and advantage of the cuttingedge formation illustrated and described has been definitelydemonstrated in actual practice.

From the foregoing description, it is believed that the construction,operation and advantages of the present invention will be readilyunderstood and appreciated by those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

In wire-cutting pliers, the combination of a pair of pivoted jaws, eachof said jaws having a wide fiat-faced outer portion and an inner portioncut away upon one side and face to reduce the thickness thereof througha certain length of its face, the reduced faces of said jaws each havinguniformly undulated cooperating cutting edges arranged in the sameplane, the undulations of said cutting edges being arranged to 3 4interfit so that the cutting edges abut each other throughout theirlength when the jaws are com- UNITED STATES PATENTS pletely closed andprovide a three-point contact Number Name Date of the cutting edges witha. wire disposed there- 355,103 Sagendorph De 1 betwee transverselythereof. 5 617,964 F k J 899 DE TZ, 1,578,438 Hintz Mar. 30, 19262,302,810 Steegmuller Nov. 24, 1942 REFERENCES CITED 119,485 Warner Oct.3, 1871 file of this patent: 10

